Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 22

What does that mean? Oh, I know not--only I know it means life forever without death or decay or sickness or pain or sorrow or weakness or tiredness or parting or fear or anxiety. But what else it means I know not. This eternal life, this life forever in heaven, I expect--I fully expect--to get, though I was a poor gambler and swearer and adulterer, and all that I could be that was sinful, for forty years. Yes; I expect to get it. I know I am on my way thither, though I am not perfect. Won't you come and go with us? Oh, won't you come?

t.i.tUS II: 14.

"Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

This verse contains a comprehensive statement of the Gospel in few words. Let us ask G.o.d that His Holy Spirit may give us wisdom and insight to understand and profit by what we are here told.

In the first place, we are told that the ground of our salvation is through the self-surrender of Himself by Jesus, the Son of G.o.d.

We saw, in a pa.s.sage of Scripture a week or two ago, how great the condescension of Jesus Christ was. Though He was equal with G.o.d, yet He took upon himself the form of a servant; and being found in fas.h.i.+on as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death--the death of the Cross. Our text now teaches us what this was for. "He gave Himself _for us_."

Now, I will ask you, could G.o.d show His concern for us in a more striking and convincing way than in the _giving_ of His Son to ignominy and death? Could Jesus, the Son of G.o.d, show His love for men in any more convincing way than in _giving Himself_ for their recovery and salvation? Then, surely we ought to lay aside our habitual way of thinking of G.o.d as our enemy, and think of Him as our best friend. For no human friend ever did for us what G.o.d has done for us. And if we judge of one's love for us by the sacrifices he makes for us, then must we give the crown to Jesus, who was G.o.d manifest in the flesh. He bore our sins; He would bear our burdens, if we would throw them on Him; He would fill us with His spirit, and with power, if we would trust Him and believe His promise.

But did He give Himself for us that we might remain _in sin_, and yet not be punished? This is what the Universalists say. But no! He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us _from_ iniquity, and from _all_ iniquity at that. He was manifested to deliver us from the _guilt_ of our past sins; and, second, to deliver us from the dominion and power of sin, that being free from sin, we might live unto G.o.d.

And that man who thinks he has been pardoned for past sins is mistaken, unless he also has been saved from the _power_ of sin, so as no longer to be led captive by the devil.

Let not what I say discourage anybody. If you have not been saved from the power of evil and of evil habits, you may be saved, and that here and now. The fact is, many of us are so selfish, we just want to be delivered from the danger, but not from the practice, of sin. Some of us enjoy sin.

If some who are here could have _all_ desire for liquor utterly taken away by raising a hand, they would, perhaps, not raise a hand, because they love liquor too well. If some could be utterly and forever freed from l.u.s.t by bowing their heads, they would not be willing to bow their heads, because they find so much pleasure in l.u.s.t and in lewd thoughts, feelings and acts, that they do not _desire_ to be freed from that which gives them this low, animal pleasure. And yet these same men will profess to have great desires to be cleansed from their sins. But, if you are willing, Christ is ready and able to deliver you from all these base and beastly pa.s.sions and habits. What do you say? Do you want to be redeemed from all iniquity to-night?

And when thus delivered from all iniquity, your soul being pure will desire nothing but to do good, and to bring other poor soiled and enslaved souls into the same liberty and purity. Since my conversion I have had no other desire and no other care but to do good and save others. And that is what the text says: "Zealous of good works."

Now, you who have been saved here, I want to ask you: What are you doing for others? If you do _not_ abound in good works, and do not try to save others, it will be difficult or _impossible_ to keep yourself saved.

Jesus said: "Every branch that beareth not fruit He taketh away."--John XV: 1. And you will find your supply of grace running short and your faith growing weak and tottering, if you do not make it a point and business to do good to others--to their bodies and their souls. What do you say? Has anybody else heard from your lips of your great blessing and salvation? Do you tell your family and your friends about it? Do you tell others of their sins and their danger? Do you pray for others? Do you give your time (part of it at least) and your money in doing good to others? If you do, you will find your own cup gets fuller, your own faith stronger, your own heart more joyful. It is G.o.d's law and G.o.d's plan that you should give out to others. In so doing He will increase your own supply. Do you feel your weakness? It is right you should do so. But do the work, speak the word, and leave it to G.o.d who giveth the increase, and it shall abound to the salvation of others, the joy of your heart, and the glory of His blessed name.

ISAIAH LV: 6-7.

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and let him return unto the Lord and He will abundantly pardon."

If a father were to write a letter to a dissipated and rebellious son, far away from home, to persuade him to return, and to a.s.sure him of a cordial welcome, he could hardly fill it fuller of expressions of tenderness and love, expressions to inspire confidence, than the Bible is of such expressions from the great G.o.d. This chapter contains an invitation to seek G.o.d, and a precious promise of forgiveness to any who will do so.

1. _Seek_ ye the Lord.

Now, you know what it means when it says _seek_. You know what it means when a man says he is seeking employment. He goes from place to place, from man to man, and he does this from day to day, and from week to week if he does not succeed; and the reason is, there is a _necessity_ upon him. He _must_ have employment, or himself and family are without bread, without clothing, without shelter. So when we talk about a man seeking the Lord, we mean that he searches diligently for Him, and from day to day, and from week to week, because there is something worse than starvation to suffer if he does not find G.o.d. I tell you when a man has soul-hunger, it is worse than body-hunger if he does not find G.o.d. When a man is sick of sin and feels his loneliness and orphanage, and that he is without G.o.d and without hope in the world, and that he dare not go into eternity in his condition of guilt and uncleanness, it is more fearful than hunger of the body, and it will make him seek for G.o.d with all his soul.

_How_ am I to seek G.o.d? you say. Well, seek Him by prayer. "Call upon Him," as the text says. "Ask and it shall be given you." Go off to yourself. Shut out everybody. Be entirely alone. Then get down upon your knees and call upon G.o.d. Plead His promises. Tell Him you have heard that He receives and saves sinners, and that you are a sinner, and that you do not mean to let Him go until He blesses you.

Seek Him by reading good, religious books and papers, and especially the Bible; and don't read any other sort of reading unless it is necessary till you find Him. Keep your mind on G.o.d all the time.

Seek Him by going with good, Christian people, pious, G.o.dly men and women who walk with G.o.d, no matter what their name or denomination may be. If you say you don't know where to find such, come to our Mission rooms, to the Walnut-street church, to all our meetings, preaching, prayer-meeting, Sunday-school, cla.s.s-meetings, ask us questions, use us in any way we can help you to find G.o.d.

Seeking Him by putting out of the way those things which are _hindrances_. The text refers to this. It says, "Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and thus let him return unto G.o.d."

The forsaking of sin is the main feature of what we call _repentance_.

You can not come to G.o.d unless you come giving up your sins entirely or crying to G.o.d for help to give them up.

You can, by G.o.d's grace, give up all your sins and all your sinful and slavish habits. A proof of this is my own deliverance from evil habits, as whisky, tobacco and evil pa.s.sions, as lewdness, licentiousness.

1. You must give up sin. You can not expect to retain it and please G.o.d or serve G.o.d. Do not question this. You must give up sin. There is no escape. Turn away from it with all your heart and soul.

2. You must give up _all_ sin, your besetting sin, the sin that has the most power over you.

3. Give up all sin _now_.

Do not wait. G.o.d will help you. You know not that you will be living to-morrow or next Sunday; and if you are, it will not be any easier then than it is to-day. Now is the day of salvation.

4. Give up all sin, give it up _now_, and give it up _forever_. You can not give it up for awhile and then turn to it again. That will do you no good. You might as well not give it up at all as to turn back to it again.

And look to G.o.d for help, for present help, for all-sufficient strength.

Tell Him by His help you mean to be His, no matter what it costs; and believe on Jesus Christ, His Son, as the bearer of your past sins and the giver of the Holy Spirit, and very soon you will be happier than the men who own these hotels and business houses and Broadway palaces and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yes; you will. I know from my experience and that of others.

My text says, G.o.d will have mercy on you and will _abundantly_ pardon you.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

LUKE VIII: 5-15.

Jesus may have seen a farmer sowing seed, and, directing the attention of the people to him, uttered this parable. He took the commonest and most familiar facts and occurrences and made them the means of expressing the great truths of His kingdom. So His ministers should try to do now--teach the truth of G.o.d in language easily understood by the men addressed.

He divides the hearers of the word into four cla.s.ses: be ready then to decide in which cla.s.s _you_ are, for you are certainly in one.

1. The seed which fell on the hard beaten path is the word preached to men who do not receive any impression at all from hearing it.

They have forgotten it by the time the sound of the preacher's voice has died away. It does not enter their minds and produce any _thought_; nor their hearts, and produce any _feeling_.

Are there not thousands of people who go to church, who hear preaching constantly, and yet it produces no effect? They are no better, and _they do not try to be_.

But in the twelfth verse we find who is the cause of this astonis.h.i.+ng indifference and hardness--it is the _devil_ who causes them at once and forever to forget all that is said "lest they should _believe_ and _be saved_."

There is an unseen adversary, then, who keeps us from thinking about religion all he can. If you do not think about it much, that is a proof that you are under his influence.

2. The next cla.s.s consists of those who from impulse become religious without counting the cost.

They do not stop to reflect that to be G.o.dly requires self-denial, humility, patience, crucifying the flesh with all its l.u.s.ts. And so, when temptation comes or trial, they give up in disgust. They are like Pliable in Bunyan's Pilgrims' Progress--easily persuaded to start on the way to heaven, but just as easily discouraged and disgusted. There are lots of such people now. They lack stability.

3. The next cla.s.s are those who hear, believe, receive and practice the word of G.o.d--who run well for a season, maybe for a _long season_, but are little by little, and in an unperceived way, drawn away from their first love, and then on to perdition.

Three things are here mentioned as drawing them gradually away from their devotion to Christ:

(_a_) _Cares._

They have so much to attend to, they do not _have_ time or _take_ time for their religious duties, as prayer, going to meetings, etc., and missing these, they soon grow cold, and they are so occupied and worried with the mult.i.tude of things to be attended to, they have no _disposition_ for religion. All this care may be about things that are lawful, as making a living, for example.